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Part of Reyna’s plan must’ve been to drive us crazy with boredom because after five minutes of staring into the void, my fingers tapped restlessly against my knee.
A knock at the door relieved me from my misery. I shot to my feet while Ladon finally stirred.
“What was that?” he mumbled.
I reached the door, which I realized was pointless right around the time it swung open. I couldn’t have opened it even if I’d tried. One of Reyna’s burly guards, Luther, stepped forward with a tray in his hands.
“Back against the wall,” he commanded.
He waited until my back pressed against the cool black stone and then he sat the tray on the ground. He kept his eyes trained on me until the door closed once more.
I sprinted forward to see what he’d brought. It smelled enticing, and I allowed myself to hope that it might be something appetizing. Once I was close enough, I could see two plates of eggs, bacon, and toast. In addition, there were two glasses of juice.
I fell to my knees and thanked the gods. It had been over a day without anything to eat and only water to drink. My uncertainty kicked in like an unwelcome house guest and my shoulders slumped.
“Well, what is it?” Ladon asked from behind me. I looked up, and he was still clutching that white towel around his waist. I hated the way my skin grew warm.
“Do you mind putting on some clothes?”
He ignored me entirely and bent down to examine the tray. I could still smell the rose-laced soap from the shower emanating from him.
Ladon grabbed a piece of toast and took a bite.
“What if that’s poisoned?” My voice came out a higher pitch than I’d expected and he stared at me while he chewed and swallowed.
“You’ve already been poisoned once, princess. Do you really think Reyna would torture you without making a spectacle of it? Eat.”
I huffed, but he didn’t need to tell me twice. I dug into the eggs while Ladon went to put his clothes on. He returned, and we sat on the floor, eating our breakfast in awkward silence.
“So, are you going to tell me what happened yesterday?” I asked.
“No.”
I shook my head, but secretly I was grateful that he had mostly returned to his usual grumpy self. This was the version of Ladon I knew how to deal with.
“Have you thought any more about how we might get out of here?”
He sat his cup down. “I was thinking about the tunnels.”
“The tunnels?”
“Yes, I’ve read about a network of hidden tunnels in these mountains. Though I don’t know much about them other than the fact that they exist. I know they are gods-made. They can appear and reappear in the blink of an eye. But I don’t know where one would even begin to look for them.”
“So you have nothing.”
“Well, what’s your brilliant plan then, princess?”
Steam rose from my ears. He was right, though. I didn’t have any more of a plan than he did. “What about your siphoning abilities?”
“What about them?” He took a bite of his bacon before pointing at mine. “Are you going to finish that?”
“I suppose not. Can’t you use them to—I don’t know—drain the life force from these bindings?” I lifted my arms where the black vines were clearly visible in the daylight. They looked ghastly against my freckled skin.
“I’ve tried.” He continued to chew his food without further explanation. I wanted to strangle him for his lack of regard for the situation.
“And?”
“Nothing happened. Well, that’s not true. My head felt like it was splitting in half but”—he lifted his left wrist where vines still covered him too—“nothing happened.”
